Water Stewardship

We actively seek to improve the use of water resources within our own operations and within the watersheds in which we operate. Our commitment extends beyond our operations to partnerships with thought leaders and leading organizations that support advancement of responsible use of the world’s limited fresh water resources to the benefit of nature, communities and business.

Advancing Global Water Stewardship Standards

Global Commitments and Partnerships

Through partnerships with leading global nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), we strengthen our understanding and our ability to impact global challenges facing our business, customers and communities. We are a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact and the CEO Water Mandate, and an active member of the Corporate Eco Forum. Our partnerships with the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy help advance water conservation and stewardship initiatives in priority regions including China, Mexico and the United States.

Advancing Global Water Stewardship

Ecolab is a founding partner of the Alliance for Water Stewardship’s (AWS) International Water Stewardship Standard, a globally consistent and locally adaptable framework to inform decisions and encourage collective action to promote sustainable freshwater use. In April 2014, Ecolab joined nearly 30 leading organizations from across industries to launch the Standard.

In 2014, we initiated programs to implement the framework at our own facilities. Our Taicang, China, plant, located in the Yangtze Taihu basin, outside of Shanghai, was a pilot location for the Standard. In September 2015, our Taicang plant became the first facility in the world to be certified under the AWS Standard.

We expanded implementation to our Carson and City of Industry manufacturing plants in California, where extreme drought is impacting all water users. As a leading adopter of the Standard in this region, we partnered with AWS and the WWF to provide training to other local water users. We also collaborated with companies in the watershed to implement the Standard within their facilities and to identify ways to work together to further reduce our collective impacts.

Water Stewardship is the use of water that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial, achieved through a stakeholder-inclusive process that involves site and catchment-based actions. Good water stewards understand their own water use, catchment context and shared risk in terms of water governance, water balance, water quality and important water-related areas; and then engage in meaningful individual and collective actions that benefit people and nature.

Water Stewardship Position

This position formalizes our global commitment to undertake responsible water stewardship by identifying opportunities for our company and our customers to use water resources in a manner that benefits business, communities and nature.

Ecolab's plant in Taicang, China was the first facility in the world to achieve certification in alignment with The Alliance for Water Stewardship International Water Stewardship Standard, a global set of principles and criteria that are environmentally, socially and economically beneficial. Learn more by viewing our infographic.

Learn more about Ecolab's plant in Taicang, China and their journey to become the first facility in the world to be AWS certified. Sign up to download the case study with more details on the AWS Standard and the specific actions taken by the team to be leading water stewards.